Enhancing Responsible Prescribing

The abuse of, and addiction to, opioids (heroin, morphine, and prescription pain relievers) is a serious global problem that affects the health, social, and economic welfare of all societies. As healthcare providers, we need to do our part to curb this epidemic. The CDC has a downloadable, informative pamphlet available as a checklist for guidance in prescribing opioids for chronic pain. 

In 2011, The Arkansas State Legislature Act 304 authorized the use of an electronic program to track prescriptions of controlled substances. The Arkansas Department of Health oversees the Arkansas Electronic Prescription Monitoring Program (AR PMP). A database was developed to collect and store prescribing and dispensing data for controlled substances in Schedules II, III, IV, and V and any other drugs specified by Arkansas law as amended. This database gives healthcare providers the ability to review a recipient's history of controlled substances prescribed, the prescriber of controlled substances, as well as the pharmacy at which the prescriptions were obtained.

As responsible healthcare providers, we encourage all APRNs to sign up for an account and to utilize it in their practice. As a registered user of the AR PMP, ACT 1208 of 2015 allows the delegation of looking up data to other staff. As the primary account holder, you are responsible for linking/unlinking the delegate account to yours (see page 34 of the Training Guide for Arkansas Practitioners and Pharmacists). 

Each sign-in to the AR PMP requires those querying to check a liability statement attesting to the fact that they are the one authorized to access the system. (It is worth stating that anyone signing in under another's user name and password is committing a Class C Felony).

Providers that utilize the AR PMP may download a flyer to display notifying those who receive your services of your facility's use of the PMP.